When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

Sanchari Bhattacharya meets photographer Aparna Jayakumar who's put the spotlight on one of Mumbai's beloved communities with her ongoing exhibition

Well-oiled men with glistening muscles, an audience ranging from eight to 80 in rapt attention, an engrossed man with a camera slung around his neck and a judge peeping from behind a foggy window.

These and other images tell you the unusual but interesting narrative of a little-known event in Mumbai: the Annual Zoroastrian Bodybuilding Championship, which faithfully yet quietly provides a platform for the young men of the community to display their might.

"There was a lot of action there," says photographer Aparna Jayakumar, 26, who has captured some striking on-stage heroics and candid backstage moments with her camera.

Image: An image from 'Flex Feroze!', an exhibition by photographer Aparna Jayakumar (inset)

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

As for the audience and judges of the normally reclusive community, they were far from being offended or even disturbed at being photographed.

"They didn't even notice me. They were far too absorbed in the show," says Jayakumar.

Pointing to the photograph of a woman with thick-rimmed glasses who sits apparently transfixed among the audience, she muses, "Look at this lady, for example. I thought to myself -- What is she doing here? What has she come to such a show for? What does it mean to someone like her?"

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

Jayakumar was surprised at the amount of interest her exhibition has generated about the championship. Very few people outside (and even within) the community knew about the annual event, which is currently in its ninth year.

"One of my friends had read about it in a Parsi newspaper. I thought it might be interesting, so I decided to drop in with my camera," she says.

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

This is not Jayakumar's first brush with the Zoroastrian community. The copywriter-turned-photographer also did the publicity stills for Sooni Taraporevala's directorial venture Little Zizou -- a fond look at the highly talented and tiny community.

Jayakumar then went on to work on Vishal Bharadwaj's Kaminey.

"There are so many people doing so much good work out there. People who do good work should get recognised," she says.

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

On why she decided to hold the exhibition at a cafe rather than the more conventional gallery, Jayakumar says, "These are light-hearted, fun photos. I wanted to put them up in a space where different kinds of people hang out, where they can look at the photographs and form their own opinions or interpretations."

Farhad Bomanjee, the owner of the cafe, is a Parsi and a photographer to boot, she points out.

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

Jayakumar's next project promises to be an equally interesting one. She is documenting the last days of the Premier Padmini taxis, the yellow and black vehicles which will be phased off Mumbai's streets soon. It is another subject that the young photographer feels strongly about.

"They have been asked to give up their Fiat taxis. They have been given almost no time or money to do that. There is bound to be a sense of frustration in them," Jayakumar says, defending the much-maligned taxi drivers of the metropolis.

"It is a project very close to my heart. I want to document the colourful nature of these cabs, the lights, the poles (inside some cabs). It is a way of saying goodbye to these Padminis, which for me are a symbol of the city," she says.

When the Parsi community flexed its muscles

She admits that it is neither glamorous nor easy being a freelance photographer. "It is hard to be taken seriously sometimes. Some people don't understand what I do. They ask, 'so what do you do, you just take pictures the whole day'," says a bemused Jayakumar.

"There is little tolerance for anything that deviates from the norm," she points out, and adds wistfully, "I wish that would change."